The operators of the San Francisco area subway system are facing intense criticism for temporarily cutting off underground cell phone and mobile-internet service at four stations in an attempt to foil a protest. On Thursday, authorities with the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) removed power to underground cell phone towers at four stations to disrupt a protest against the recent death of Charles Hill, a homeless man who was shot dead on a train...

Numerous news outlets and commentators initially blamed the attacks in Norway on Islamic militants. Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper, The Sun, ran a front-page headline that read, "'Al-Qaeda' Massacre: Norway’s 9/11." In the United States, Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal also initially blamed "jihadists," reporting that "Norway is targeted for being true to Western norms." Meanwhile, on the...

After giving a nearly six-month tryout for the internet talk show host Cenk Uygur, the cable news channel MSNBC is preparing to instead award its 6:00 p.m. prime-time slot to the Reverend Al Sharpton. MSNBC President Phil Griffin offered Uygur a well-paid but lower-profile on-air slot, but Uygur rejected the offer, saying the decision to demote him was politically motivated. Uygur is known for aggressively interrogating leading Washington...

The British phone-hacking scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has crossed the Atlantic and could impact his maze of interests in the United States. The watchdog group, ProtectOurElections.org, has called on the FBI and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch criminal and civil investigations into possible prosecution under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the wake of the scandal that began in the United Kingdom....

Rupert Murdoch’s media empire is engulfed in a growing scandal after new evidence emerged that his reporters in Britain paid corrupt police officers for story tips and hacked the voicemails of thousands of people, from child murder victims to the families of Britain’s war dead. On Thursday, Murdoch shocked the country by shutting down the newspaper at the center of the scandal, the News of the World, Britain’s biggest-selling...

A federal appeals court has overturned part of a Federal Communications Commission rule that made it easier for a single company, like Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., to own a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in a single market. The ruling marks the second time the appeals court has intervened in the commission’s attempts to relax media ownership rules. We speak with Brandy Doyle, policy director for the Prometheus Radio Project, the...

Democracy Now! broadcasts from the National Conference for Media Reform in Boston, where more than 2,000 media activists, journalists, academics and lawmakers have gathered during a time of massive cutbacks in the news industry and increasing concentration of media ownership. Comcast merged with NBC in January, and last month AT&T announced plans to purchase T-Mobile, a deal that could leave the country with just three wireless carriers....

One of President Barack Obama’s signature campaign promises was to protect the freedom of the Internet. He said, in November 2007, “I will take a back seat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality, because once providers start to privilege some applications or websites over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out and we all lose.”

When Obama was running for office three years ago, he pledged to support the principle of a free and open internet, saying, "I will take a backseat to no one with regards to net neutrality." Fast-forward to today and the FCC chair that Obama appointed is leading a vote that could end net neutrality. Today’s pivotal vote will decide on a new set of regulations that critics say will create a two-tiered system for the internet. We...

Community radio advocates are celebrating a major victory after the Senate approved the Local Community Radio Act on Saturday, one day after its passage in the House. The bill will open up more of the radio dial for Low Power FM, with the FCC now mandated to license thousands of new stations. We speak with Hannah Sassaman of the Philadelphia-based Prometheus Radio Project. [includes rush transcript]